


take it off

by v3ilfire



Series: between fields of fire and miles to go [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-04
Updated: 2015-10-04
Packaged: 2018-04-24 19:21:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4932181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/v3ilfire/pseuds/v3ilfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You refuse my attention and yet, I caught you stealing glances every time you thought I wasn’t watching.” </p><p>And he had caught her red-handed - not in the act, necessarily, but the woman blushed with such ferocity that even her hands tinted red in the firelight. </p><p>“And your point, Zevran?”<br/>“I think you are hiding something,” he said as he tilted her chin up towards him with his hand. “Something right… here!”<br/>Camilla yelped. Before she caught him moving, his hand ventured to press on her injured shoulder, and it hurt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	take it off

There was something very suspicious about a  _certain_  Camilla Cousland that night, and no one else seemed to notice it.

Zevran ran his mind through the previous few days, trying to pinpoint when she began moving her shoulder quite so stiffly. They had done little fighting, for once, save for a stray bundle of Darkspawn on their way out of Denerim the night before. 

Naturally, the assassin put it on himself to investigate. 

He managed to corner her after a dinner full of suggestive glances and her rather blatant means of turning her head to talk to her  _dog_  in order to ignore him. She was just about to crawl into her tent when he emerged from ‘round the tree nearby. Camilla - being more than used to this sort of behavior, merely stopped and settled her hands on her hips ( _which_ , Zevran took note,  _she usually crosses them)_.   
“Can I help you?”   
“I cannot help feeling that I have wronged you in some way, or else you would not have been ignoring me  _quite_  as you did tonight.”

Camilla sighed. 

“Mm, nope. Just don’t feel like talking tonight, so. Bye.”   
Zevran put his arm out and stopped her in her tracks. She couldn’t hide her surprise _that_  time.   
“See, my dear Warden, I would be  _far_  less suspicious of your behavior if your eyes didn’t give you away. You are a  _terrible_  liar.”   
“I told you, I’m not mad –”  
“That is not what you are lying about. You refuse my attention and yet, I caught you stealing glances every time you thought I wasn’t watching.” 

And he had caught her red-handed - not in the act, necessarily, but the woman blushed with such ferocity that even her hands tinted red in the firelight. 

“And your  _point_ , Zevran?”   
“I think you are hiding something,” he said as he tilted her chin up towards him with his hand. “Something right… here!”   
Camilla yelped. Before she caught him moving, his hand ventured to press on her injured shoulder, and it  _hurt_. 

“Everything alright over there? Or should I not ask?” came Alistair’s yell from the fire.  
“Everything’s fucking  _fine_ ,” Camilla yelled back, and at Zevran’s urging, went back into her tent. Naturally, he followed.

“Alright, Camilla. Take it off.”  
“ _Excuse me?”  
_ “You heard me. Your shirt. Take it off,” he repeated, emphasizing every word. Camilla’s brow furrowed and she  _scowled_ , but ultimately, removed her shirt and threw it aside.

Zevran’s eyes went wide.

Just below where her collar sat, down her arm, over her shoulder and her side, lay a huge bruise. Blacker than black at the point of impact.   
“Wynne’s already treating it. She’s got the bones set back. Bruise should be gone in two weeks,” she muttered, like a scorned child.   
“When did you – how –” 

But, before he could finish the question, Zevran remembered. 

There had been an Alpha. There was a point at which he was swarmed by three darkspawn, and stopped keeping track of the monstrosity. When he found it again, it was just behind him, but disoriented, and Camilla had started missing shots. 

“You did  _not –”_  
“I can explain –”   
“You jumped in front of an  _Alpha?_  You are a  _ranged_  fighter, I –”   
“He was coming right for you and  _your_ dumb ass was –”  
“I don’t care what I – wait, did you just –”  
“Don’t you start.”   
“Did you jump in front of an Alpha… to save  _me?”_

He had  _never_  seen Camilla’s mouth quite  _that_  stern. Her words came through clenched teeth.  
“No,” she lied. “I just  _happened_  to be in the  _way_.”   
“So you ran from the other side of the battlefield to… what, get a better spot? Softer grass to shoot from?”  
“I had a better vantage point.”  
“On a flat field? The wind was against you on that side. I told you you were a terrible liar.”

Her hands flew to her face and she groaned.   
“Maker, what is it going to take to shut you up? I just – I did – I wasn’t thinking, alright? I saw the hammer and I booked it. Better my shoulder than your head. Happy?”   
Zevran sat back, and for once, Camilla couldn’t read him.  
“I – don’t give me that look, you’re my friend, alright?”  
“You jump in front of Alphas for all your friends?”  
“Only the stupid ones.”

Zevran snorted. He didn’t  _quite_  believe her, but the alternative clenched his throat and put a stone’s weight in his stomach that he did not expect to find there. 

“I have a salve to soothe the pain,” he said. “If you wish.”   
Camilla was very obviously glad for the change of topic, though her jaw didn’t unclench as much as she wished it would. If she opened her mouth too wide, she was afraid she’d vomit from the nerves – though if you asked her why she was nervous, she wouldn’t be able to say.   
“Yeah. Alright,” she muttered. 

Zevran left and returned quickly, being only a stone’s throw away, and instructed the Warden to lie flat on her stomach upon his return.   
“What are you doing?”  
“I promised you a massage, did I not? You are so visibly tense that I can feel it from across the camp.” 

Camilla was about to protest, but the salve on his hands was cool on the edges of her bruise, and he was gentle in working his way around it. He started on her good shoulder, and by the time her upper back was nearly numb and he was able to work his way deeper into the bruising, the Warden was already asleep. 

He continued massaging out the swollen muscles until he felt her arm more pliant in his grip than before. He rearranged her limbs as a final courtesy, careful to set the woman on her good side. 

“Not gonna stay?” she muttered as he made his way to leave.   
“Do you wish me to?”   
There was a pause in which she scolded herself for expecting him to stay in the  _first_ place.   
“Doesn’t matter. Up to you.” 

Zevran thought about it a moment, but before his head could convince him to flee, made his way back to the redhead. He settled in behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist, and Camilla made the mistake of thinking he was asleep before tangling her fingers in with his. 


End file.
